Today, Mike Schmoker, Sonot Kkaazoot woodel guru was back in town after several weeks spent high altitude trekking in Peru. As he was the only SCUM showing up for our Wednesday Ester Dome ascent, I let him choose the route. Given that temperatures were around 30 deg with 12 to 18 mph SW winds, we opted to take the single-track trail up Ester Dome to Henderson Road.
Mike’s groomed track this morning
The wind protection was marvelous, but Mike’s high elevation acclimation made his pace rival that of Bernardo.
The clouds lifted and blue skies turned the trails magical
And unlike the SCUM mother, who is geographically challenged, Mike had a map in his head that mirrored those posted on the trail.
Mike finds the map
Unlike Bill’s maps that are sketched in the snow, Mike’s map was printed, sealed in plastic and posted on the trails.
Mike and I were both smiling through out hike:
Smiling Mike enjoying views of the valley
Mike’s fitness was again demonstrated when he fell but was too quick getting up for me to get a photo of his tumble:
Site of Mike’s first fall of the winter season.
If the National Weather Service is correct, we should be skiing soon. However, in the meantime, some of the trails less traveled will make for fun SCUM adventure workouts.
Where were these guys when we were ski walking up Ester Dome today? It looks like Robert thought they were skiing (hence, his SCUM ski hat) but Bill had other ideas (wearing shorts and a t-shirt). They were BUMs (Bill’s Uncoachable Men) again today–leaving early and changing the course. However, we all agreed that it was a lovely autumn day.
Other wayward SCUM are hiking or biking in Germany, Peru, Erie Canal, NY, and other locations in the Lower 48.
Today the SCUM opted out of doing the Fort Wainwright alpine hill ascents since several of us plan to do the Golden Heart Trail Run tomorrow. Instead, we ski walked the black and blue loops and finished with some disc golf. However, in honor of the Plastic Free July Challenge, we used a wooden disc. Here is a close up of the disc and Bernardo who ended up tossing the disc the closest to the goal:
Bernardo, was the champion disc golfer among the SCUM
Robert putts
Carl’s new orange Hoka shoes don’t assist his disc golf swing
Mike Mathers, professional photographer, disrupting my attempt at getting a group photo.
Bernardo getting a SCUM salute for his mastery of the Dan Johnson disc toss
Norma Haubenstock’s Sonot Kkaazoot snail award from 1998
Although I’ve been the last finisher in the 50 km Sonot Kkaazoot more times than I have fingers to count, I’ve never gotten a red lantern. I have gotten to be friends with the trail sweeps. Ken has taken my excess clothes to the finish for me, and I have told Danny to remove the remaining orange kilometer markers because I definitely knew the course (especially when it was on the Chena River).
In 1998, Norma Haubenstock was awarded the Sonot Kkaazoot Snail woodel made by Bad Bob from a particularly unique shaped birch log. We might need to offer incentives for women skiing the 50 km Sonot Kkaazoot. This year Corinne Leistikow was the only woman over 29 years old to finish the 50 km Sonot Kkaazoot. She was ahead of her husband, an under 20-year-old female skier, and one 30–34-year-old male skier. But no other Masters female skiers finished the 50-km Sonot Kkaazoot.
Since the pandemic, I haven’t been the last 50 km Sonot Kkaazoot finisher because I have been unable to finish 50 km. Likewise, most of the SCUM have chosen to ski the 30 km instead of the 50 km event.
Among the SCUM there is fierce competition for woodels since the M09 (70 to 74 years old) category had 5 SCUM skiers so only three would be successful.
Woodel winners in M09 men in 30 km Sonot Kkaazoot–Bill Husby (2nd), Mike Schmoker (first), and Dermot Cole (third)–Joanna Fox photo
Last year Mike Schmoker and Dermot Cole skied the 50 km Sonot, however, this year, only Eric Troyer skied it.
In contrast, he provided these insights from the back-of-the-pack to me:
I don’t try to be at the back of the pack, but I enjoy being there. The people are friendly, and the atmosphere is more relaxed. It’s kind of like a pub in motion. But without the bar. Or the beer. And if you end up doing enough of the races, it’s like Cheers. Everybody knows your name!
One thing nice about being at the back of the pack is hope. You can always hope someone in front of you went out too fast and then runs out of steam badly. Then you can cheerily call out “Good job!” as you pass them. Sure, it’s sad and petty, but it’s all we’ve got!
I’ve been at the back of the pack many times. I’ve even got a list of all my Red Lantern finishes. I’m proud of them! Entered, competed, finished! Most important, though, is that you have a good time while you’re out there. Even when you’re struggling and feel like you want to puke. Good times!
Regardless of distance attempted, the SCUM have a good time. Here’s the view before the Sonot Kkaazoot as they flex their bionic hinges:
SCUM before the Sonot Kkaazoot, posing in front of the spectator directional sign —photo by Dermot Cole
and a view of the morning after:
SCUM on the day after the Sonot Kkaazoot, with Bill Husby feeling the effects of grooming for 5 hours, sleeping only 3 hours, and having Dermot pass him on the black loops when he fell–photo by Joanna Fox
However, this year, Sonot Kkaazoot race director, Bad Bob Baker, felt the effects of his completely torn hamstring while setting up the courses, supervising all the volunteers, and providing the play-by-play in the stadium for 6 hours. The pain and swelling did force Bob to go home for several hours before race morning.
We wish him a successful surgery and speedy recovery so that he can have more fun at next year’s Sonot Kkaazoot.
Bad Bob Baker at rest during a lull in the finish line activities of the Sonot Kkaazoot–photo by Dan Johnson
Festive SCUM elves at biathlon range–photo by Joanna Fox
Although the SCUM can often be naughty rather than nice, on Christmas eve (before dawn), the SCUM were busy decorating the Roller Coaster trail with candy canes. Even if their ornaments were tossed by the wind and broken, they’d still be edible.
Poles and Mom struggle with candy canes and pole straps--photo by Joanna Fox
Poles goes down skiing while carrying a bag of candy canes:
Santa down, but candy canes still fine–photo by Joanna Fox
We separated and distributed candy canes through the Roller Coasters:
Joanna decorates a little spruce tree
Bernardo hides a big candy cane full of Hersey kisses--photo by Bill Husby
Thoroughly cold after searching for somewhere to discard our detritus, we headed out the White Bear and had professional lighting for our photos there:
Elves: Jerome, Bill, and Greg at the biathlon range–photo by Joanna Fox
And despite the protests of some of us who were freezing as the temperatures were rapidly dropping, we documented sunrise on the WB:
Sunrise on the White Bear--photo by Joanna Fox
After skiing White Bear and Moilanen Meadows, we encountered a group of young skiers and urged them out onto the Roller Coasters, where some of them found their rewards:
Skier finds candy cane--photo by Bill Husby
One skier found one of the candy canes full of chocolate kisses:
Skier finds Jerome’s candy cane full of Hersey kisses--photo by Bill Husby
Dan and Eric taking a break on Blackhawk–photo by Bill Husby
Comment from groomer Bill Husby, “Today’s ski was definitely a change of pace ski. Burned more energy climbing out of snowbanks after crashing than I did skiing today (6+ falls).”
Bernardo trying to assist two downed SCUM on the North Star–photo by Dan Johnson
When the trail groomer takes off his skis and walks the downhills that he groomed, you realize that you might have made a mistake.
Fata Morgana on Sunnyside (Robert’s belt is causing a belly mirage–really, he’s as slim as Bernardo)
Snow on Dermot’s vest isn’t from any of his tumbles on the North Classics. However, he chose to bail out of the South Classics and do the Sonot Connector to Sunnyside instead.
However, we all made it back to our cars intact, although some of the snow from the trails was still on our ski gear.
The SCUM skiers were too focused on their workouts so were unable to find all 12 of the LOL Christmas ornaments. However, we did find 8 while skiing:
LOL #1--photo by Joanna Fox on 12/26/22 on WB access during Ski Your Age in Kilometers
LOL #3 found on Skadi loop, hanger was separated from ornament–photo by Byron Broda on 12/9/22
Santa Bill with LOL ornament #4 on Roller Coaster on 12/11/22–photo by Dan Johnson
LOL ornament #5 on Medevac on 12/11/22–photo by Dermot Cole
Ornament #6 on White Bear near biathlon on winter solstice--photo by Bill Husby, who spotted it
LOL #7 ornament on White Cub, 12/9/22–photo by Dan Johnson
LOL ornament #8 on Tommy Knocker trail–photo by Joanna Fox
Byron and ornament #11 on Old Tower Loop
Bill Husby saw LOL ornament #12 on Little Bird while grooming, but we never got out there on skis, so we failed to nab that one, too. We thank the LOL for this fun addition to our December skiing and an excuse to take a rest break–a SCUM necessity.
SCUM Birch Bakken skiers on 12-30-22 including Bob, Eric, and Eric (FS), Joanna, Bernardo, Dan, Mike, Dermot, and Susan (CL). Bill took the long way down to the start so missed our group start before sunrise.
To those unfamiliar with the Birch Bakken challenge, it was dreamed up by groomer Bill Husby, who was suffering a chest injury today from his fall skiing the Chinook loop on Thursday after he had set it. The course takes a 4.0 km route from the low point to the high point of the Birch Hill Recreation Area. The red line in this GPS trace is the course:
From the FWW alpine building (point 1 on the map), we headed up Cliffside, at the Cliffside gate, we head up the downhill section of Sunnyside to Section Line junction (this is much steeper than the regular inbound trail shown in blue). We then skied the inbound Sunnyside trail to the Outhouse Loop, then to Relay Return, backwards to the Blue Slot, then back on Relay Return to South Tower to the light pole at the highest point of the Tower Loop (point 2).
Here are the statistics for the oldest and slowest No Y SCUM, who was skiing at “Sonot Kkaazoot pace” and kept her HR within level 2:
Hopefully, finish photos will be added as they become available. The temperature inversion on the BB Challenge was about 20 degrees today. After finishing the BB Challenge, we skied back down the South Tower to look for wayward SCUM.
As promised, action photos by Eric Troyer and Corinne Leistikow. Corinne passed me on the Outhouse after she skied White Bear to Sonot Connector, Blackhawk, Chinook, and the rest of the Sonot Connector. She saw the SCUM gathering at the bottom of the hill so skied by most of us while chasing Eric. The day before Dr. Leistikow told me the importance of recovery days. I guess that only applies to her older patients.
Joanna heading up the Birch Bakken first–until she took a wrong turn at the Cliffside gate–photos by Eric Troyerexcept where noted otherwise
SCUM chase Joanna up Birch BakkenEric Buetow chases Mike Mathers
Mom and Dermot take off last (except for Eric Troyer, photographer)
Mom ahead of Eric Buetow on the South Tower, only because Eric forgot the Blue Slot so had to backtrack before starting South Tower again
Eric finishing strong up the South Tower
Corinne joining the SCUM from the Tower Loop
Finished SCUM
SCUM after Birch Bakken–photo by Corinne Leistikow
Sonot Kkaazoot 